Hex Girlfriend have shared the video for their single ‘Café Culture’.
The video captures the energy and creatively of the London-based duo who released ‘Café Culture’ and ‘Itch’ last month. They were featured by DIY, Wonderland and Rolling Stone UK, whilst picking up radio support from Jack Saunders at Radio 1 and John Kennedy at Radio X.
On ‘Café Culture’ electronics and rock come together as propulsive, distorted beats and expansive production show off the band’s ambition and scale. It’s thrilling – loud and immediate.
On lead track Café Culture the duo say –
“Café Culture” is a loud, confrontational song, but the lyrics are about slowing down, taking time for yourself, and realising that just ‘grinding’ away at something isn’t necessarily going to get results if it’s wearing you down. It’s a song about rejecting ‘hustle culture’, something that we feel is particularly prevalent in today’s industry where making music independently is thankfully more accessible, but still comes at the cost of homogeneity and commodification due to the relentless pressure to ‘market yourself’.
The duo have recently set up their new recording space in south London as they gear up for their biggest year yet. Last year was spent channelling their energy into recording and readying their live show. Now with ‘Café Culture’ and ‘Itch’ they are ready to emerge. These two tracks act as an early statement and they’ll be releasing music consistently throughout 2024 with more live shows running alongside.
About Hex Girlfriend:
Formed in 2020, Hex Girlfriend is the alter ego of Noah and James. Meeting at Goldsmiths while studying popular music, their first impressions of each other were not promising, but they soon got talking, discovering their outlooks aligned and that something might be there.
They bonded over a desire to go against what music education and the scene in London instilled. ”We felt surrounded by a collective desire to make everything ‘edgy’ and ultra-personal, which forced repetitive narratives and the romanticisation of the ‘troubled artist’, resulting in venue after venue of men stood on stages holding cans of Stella, shouting about how evidently fucked everything is, behind an ever-present veil of ‘post-punk’. Especially in times like these, it feels more important than ever to broaden these attitudes and find a space for connection with the fun, strange and different in music, to offer a departure from the everyday”
As they got to know each other, these attitudes became something they both wanted to develop in their work and gave rise to Hex Girlfriend.
The band pulls on various influences, from left-field pop to rock, dense electronica to hip-hop. For James, inspiration has often come from performance-based artists such as maximalist electronic musician Kate NV and techno producer VTSS, artists with a healthy dose of fun, energy and expression. For Noah, Death Grips have been an immovable force, highlighting the production, the sonics, and the cryptic poetry of the lyrics. Crossover artists such as The Prodigy, who could straddle rock and dance worlds with their incendiary live show, are another critical influence, demonstrating the depths to which performers can take their shows.
Live performance is crucial; it’s where this south London-based duo come into their own. For them, the live experience is much more than just recreating the record; it’s an opportunity to perform theatrically, creating a cathartic experience for the audience where they can let go of reality for a moment. It allows a more impulsive side to emerge as they feed off the audience, making each show unique to those who experience it. As a two-piece, they are “maximalist in stage presence, yet minimalist in stage production”, allowing themselves the space to inject spontaneity and fun into their work.
With their newest single ‘Café Culture’ set for release in February, more live dates coming, and a constant flow of new music channelling through this super creative duo, Hex Girlfriend are set to establish themselves as a key new act to watch.
